New York City Waterworks

Six stanzas flying in loose formation over a city of pyramids

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NEW YORK CITY WATERWORKS

I gaze up at the tower faces filled with awe & loathing 
Gridlines of sky flying in tight formation along every seam
The sunlight like a laser pointer in a maze of mirrors
Your lips still shining from our seven-second kiss

Clean drinking water runs through the city like monsoon rain
Where everything is expensive water is cheap so cheap 
They let it run & run & every wall drips & no bathplug 
Ever makes a seal & the showerheads hammer like a firehose

Waiters force ice-water & smiles upon you & we don't bother
To hide the tears in our eyes we just smile through them
Leaving tips with cavalier credit cards & bitter dark chocolates
Catching the glint of our shadow-selves in the mirror

& just like the locals we let the water run forever
With that soft trickle that zen garden sound of sweet revenge 
For all the finer things we could never afford
For California burning while Europe drowns in its own filth

& every drop that slips our lips is tainted with forever chemicals
Our throats bleached by cigarettes & lemon zest
Scored by hard laughter & industrial solvents in the cocaine
Twenty-dollar cosmos with that all-too-familiar taste of revenge

& I gaze up in wonder & resignation at the pyramid peaks aflame 
& dripping with flamingo & violet as they reach for the old Gods
& I kiss you again for as long as we can stand the cold
Counting all the way to seven Mississippi

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So many things, both real and imagined (you know who you are), went into this poem, but one inspiration worth sharing in particular is this piece I hope you enjoy by Megan Fernandes: